There is still a month before summer holidays, but Sachi Guilbert is getting her grandson Tobin's passport photo just in case.

"We might want to go down to the States and obviously we can't without passports," Guilbert said.

Now technically speaking Tobin will not need a passport to travel south of the border until he is 16.

Right now, any proof of Canadian Citizenship will do, but anyone 16 or older will need one.

Under new security rules starting June 1, 2009 all travelers will need a passport, Nexus card or an enhanced ID to travel by land or sea into the United States.

Helga Malcolm works at CAA where they process pictures for passports.

She says last summer was the busiest she has seen it.

"When they first announced that as of June 1, 2009, we saw a really large increase in passport photos, it seems like that's all we were doing," Malcolm said.

Earlier this year the government unveiled its enhanced ID card for crossing the border by land and water.

The card is as good as a passport for entry to the United States as long as it is not by air.

The government expected to be busy and spent $13 million on the project.

The card comes complete with a micro-chip of sorts to speed up border crossings.

"We certainly encourage them to look at the card, see if it meets their travel expectations," Brian Smiley of MPI said.

Few have.

Interest in the enhanced ID card has been less than overwhelming.

In a survey two years ago, 100,000 Manitobans said they were interested.

So far, fewer than 3,000 people have applied.

Smiley blames the low number in part on the economy.

"There was a different marketplace in terms of economics.

The Canadian dollar was doing fairly well, there wasn't the downturn in job employment, people were taking trips across the border," Smiley said.

According to Passport Canada, just over 45 percent of Manitobans now have a passport.

If you still want one, you will not get it by June 1, 2009 as the processing time for a new passport is about 10 days and only if you drop your application off at the passport office.

The wait time for Manitoba's enhanced ID card is also about 10 days.

With a report from CTV's Joe Olafson